Babar Azam, the top-ranked batter in ODIs and T20Is, entered the top three of the ICC men’s batting rankings, achieving a career-best rating of 874 points after the latest update.
Babar, who has been in fine nick in the format, and averages 72.50 in Tests in 2022. In the first Test at Galle against Sri Lanka, he scored 119 and 55 in Pakistan’s four-wicket win. With the latest update, he replaced Steve Smith to move to three, with only Joe Root and Marnus Labuschagne. Dimuth Karunaratne slipped one place down to eighth, while Usman Khawaja moved up one place to seventh.
Young Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique, who has had a highly impressive start to his Test career, jumped 23 places to move to 16th. Dinesh Chandimal also managed to leap 11 places and is now placed 18th.
His teammate, Shaheen Afridi, also enjoying a fine run in Tests, moved to three in the ICC bowling rankings, replacing Jasprit Bumrah. Pat Cummins and Ravichandran Ashwin are in first and second positions respectively. Prabath Jayasuriya, the Sri Lanka spinner who made his debut against Australia, moved 11 places to 44.
ICC Test rankings: Batters
1(0) Joe Root
2(0) Marnus Labuschagne
3(1) Babar Azam
4(1) Steve Smith
5(0) Rishabh Pant
6(0) Kane Williamson
7(1) Usman Khawaja
8(1) Dimuth Karunaratne
9(0) Rohit Sharma
10(0) Jonny Bairstow
ICC Test rankings: Bowlers
1(0) Pat Cummins
2(0) Ravichandran Ashwin
3(1) Shaheen Afridi
4(1) Jasprit Bumrah
5(0) Kagiso Rabada
6(0) James Anderson
7(0) Kyle Jamieson
8(0) Kemar Roach
9(0) Neil Wagner
10(0) Mitchell Starc
ICC Test rankings: All-rounders
1(0) Ravindra Jadeja
2(0) Ravichandran Ashwin
3(0) Shakib Al Hasan
4(0) Jason Holder
5(0) Ben Stokes
6(0) Mitchell Starc
7(0) Pat Cummins
8(0) Kyle Mayers
9(0) Colin de Grandhomme
10(0) Kyle Jamieson